Terry Butcher has become a patron of Combat2Coffee, a veteran-run not-for-profit which uses coffee as a vehicle to encourage conversation around mental health. Combat2Coffee was founded by Royal Anglian veteran Nigel Seaman in 2018, following his diagnosis with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Terry has been a vocal backer of calls for greater mental health support for veterans’ families since his son Christopher, who served in Afghanistan as a Captain in the Royal Artillery, died in 2017 after a battle with PTSD.
Terry, whose arrival comes during Armed Forces Week, said: “I feel very honoured and humbled. My son would have loved it if he was still here. My son followed the same path as Nigel. There’s a lot of veterans coming out now with mental and physical health troubles. They come crashing out of the military and there still isn’t a lot of help there for them.
“Combat2Coffee is a great organisation because it introduces people to a brew which gets them talking to people. It puts you at ease as a veteran. There is hope, great hope – but we want to give them even more. I am doing this for my son, what he suffered and what we all went through as a family.”
Combat2Coffee has forged partnerships with the likes of Ipswich Town Football Club and served more than 250,000 cups of hot drinks in 2023, each emblazoned with the contact details of numerous veteran and mental health charities.
Seaman added: “All of us at Combat2Coffee are thrilled to welcome Terry to the team. He has been a huge supporter of ours since the very early days – and sadly knows all too well just how vital our mission is.
“Together we will not only look to change lives one sip at a time through our coffee, but utilise his reach to influence positive change at a national level. I look forward to seeing just how much we can achieve together.”
More information on Combat2Coffee and its outreach services can be found at: www.combat2coffee.co.uk.